In the newest update we've made the game much much fairer. Magpies are not that unnerving anymore and the lynx pauses for a second after attacking, opening a window of opportunity to escape. The editor has received a ton of tutorials to ease you into developing your own games with Ginkgo and the game can be played past the ending credits.

This is the best version of Secrets of Raetikon. Enjoy!

Here are all the tweaks:
+ Balanced magpie speed.
+ Removed some magpies.
+ Lynx pauses his attack longer after biting.
+ Balanced health.
+ Game can be continued after credits ended.
+ Fixed bug where shard vanished when dropped into cage door without opening it.
+ Fixed sliver in deep getting pushed into solid ground.
+ Shard can’t be dropped while level switch starts fading to black -> prevent confusing situation where shard is lying near level borders and hard to find.
+ Fixed troubles with multiple connected controllers.
+ Added lots of tutorials.

Dear friend,

The coming update to Secrets of Raetikon will be the release version of the game.

Thank you very much for your early support and for joining us on this epic voyage. We would not have been able to finish the game without your support and encouragement. And we will continue working on the game, fixing bugs and adding new content, achievements and mods in the months to come.

With the launch of the game, we will leave Early Access and become a regular Steam title. We are escpecially grateful for your (positive) reviews and actually your bug reports also helped us a lot.

There are tons of new features, including new areas, temples, secrets and a gravity gun in the release build which will be online for you from Thursday. Also, the ending of the game will be revealed then.

If you have not done so, please leave us a nice review – we need all the help we can get to get the word out about the game.

Cheers,
Martin
(for Broken Rules)

This is the biggest update to Secrets of Rætikon we've ever made and it's also one of the last. The journey into the Rætikon is coming to a close as we're entering the Beta phase. This is exciting!

New secrets have been added, including the fabled statues of the raetic deities. We've also added fish and a new game menu. And finally your bird man has the ability to scream! Other birds in the area will react to his voice. The full list of changes is below. Most importantly: the bug that prevented the game from saving is fixed in this new build.

Here's the full list

• Added a ton of secrets and hidden areas to find.
  
• Added statues of the raetic gods.
  
• Added fishes.
  
• Hit Circle(PS3), ‘B’(Xbox) or ‘A’(Keyboard) to chat with other birds.
  
• Completely redesigned the game menu. It looks and feels much better now.
  
• Fixed a bug that disabled saving for the rest of the game after being revived.
  
• Fixed death sequence when bitten to death by a lynx.
  
• Updated background in daw area and tuned a lot of colors.
  
• Updated rockslide in canyon area with sounds and effects.
  
• Updated rockslide geometry so rocks don’t get stuck as easily.
  
• Rocks from rockslide now shatter nicely when hitting the bottom.
  
• Updated daw king wing opening sequence.
  
• Updated daw cave background and colors.
  
• Updated water temple area with effects and particles.
  
• Daw can now hatch in more areas and react to its environment.
  
• Updated squirrel graphics and animations.
  
• Squirrels now flee from the player and predators if they get too close.
  
• Adapted level geometry so in tutorial and Daw area so rabbits can navigate better.
  
• Tuned rabbit waypoints. They are now better at hopping around!
  
• Birds now have different calls (some still WIP).
  
• Robins now are able to sit on rune stones and more trees.
  
• Robins now are lighter so they won't break saplings when sitting on them.
  
• The sound of the wind is much more nuanced.
  
• Controls can be reconfigured in the menu now. Make your own keyboard layout if you don’t like the default.
  
• Added footstep sounds to stag.
  
• Fixed a bug that removed player controls if the player switched windows.
  
• Unplugging gamepads and plugging in again is much more stable now.
  
• Fixed a layer ordering issue.
  
• Tuned buzzard cave head opening sequence and added particles and sounds.
  
• Fixed a bug related to music syncing.

Please help us by playing through the game and telling us if there are any more bugs to be fixed or issues with the game.

This update brings you a brand-new hub area. The machine where you drop the shards was replaced with a much more impressive design. The swamp and the canyon also received new background decorations. The vistas look much more spectacular now, don’t you think?

We’ve also added lots and lots of new sounds. Buzzards scream before attacking. New objects you come across are signified by a attention-directing sound effect. The wind howls dramatically in the canyon and other areas of the game.

Additionally we’ve fixed a lot of small bugs and added a ton of particles and new animations.

We hope you enjoy the update. Here’s the complete list of changes:

+ Rebuilt hub area from the ground up.
+ Updated buzzard head cave sequence.
+ Updated background colors in swamp area and canyon area.
+ Eggs now have collision and breaking sound effects.
+ Added sounds to buzzards and magpies.
+ Added attention sounds when discovering areas or objects.
+ Added wind sound effects at various positions.
+ Music syncs correctly and plays when reloading a save game.
+ Fixed a bug where slivers were lost when changing a level.
+ Fixed creatures pushing health and blue orbs into environment.
+ Polished various areas with more particles and new animations.

This build is a huge step forward. The death sequence – what happens when you die – was completely reworked and is much more theatrical now. Blue orbs, that revive you on spot if your blue orb bar is full, are much better placed now and the whole life/death system now makes much more sense.

The magpies behave differently now: they will steal the shard, if you happen to carry one, and throw it to one another. Some other birds were also placed in different spots so that the whole game feels much more balanced.

The rune translation table got improved a lot and now clearly shows the last rune you've collected.

On the technical side we've been able to get rid of the stuttering that sometimes plagued the game when objects were dynamically created. We've also improved the Linux version so that it handles dual-screen setups more graceful and better supports Xbox 360 gamepads.

We wish you fun with the game and according to our schedule, this will be the last alpha version. Transitioning to beta means that we're ironing out details from now but most likely will not include any more content except a few more levels that are already being implemented right now. Also, the shard destructor will soon look completely different. We'll keep you posted about our progress.

Here's the full list of changes:

• New magpie behavior: passing shard to one another.
  
• Staging sequence for the death of the player (WIP).
  
• Improved bird placement and progression.
  
• Improved rune progression HUD.
  
• Tuned blue orb distribution throughout the game.
  
• Dynamically spawned objects don't cause the game to stutter any more.
  
• Fixed that the blocking branch in the daw level didn't break in corner cases.
  
• Fixed stuck statue pieces after carrying the to an other level.
  
• Fixed minor glitches in the Destructor level.
  
• Various visual and gameplay finetuning.
  
• Linux: Improved dual screen handling on Linux.
  
• Linux: Worked around incorrect productID from xboxdrv to correct Xbox 360 controller mapping

Alpha 15 is ready and here’s what’s new. There’s a new enemy bird, the magpie – you can find her in the large area right of the shard destruction machine. Recent visitors to that area also reported sightings of squirrels. The nearby water temple is newly decorated and a pilgrimage site was erected there.

Have you ever wondered what the blue orbs are for? They used to grant extra lives. We’ve changed that to a new mechanic: collect 100 to receive a free instant respawn on the spot, if you die. This should make it easier to unlock the eight new achievements – Cryptographer, Mother of Many, Sliver Hoarder, Fatal Dash, Transporter, Born To Kill, Catcher and Thorny Thistle.

The editor received a few new features, too. Press <cmd/ctrl>+<alt>+<g> to turn on a snapping grid for rapid level decoration in the node and the path editor. There are components for multiplexing events (“EventMux”) and for turning any value into a string (“EventPropertyLabel”) now.

Here's the full list:

• Added new bird 'magpie'. (WIP)
  
• Added new animal 'squirrel'. (WIP)
  
• Changed blue orb mechanic - collect 100 for an instant respawn.
  
• Removed permadeath from the game.
  
• Updated player death sequence.
  
• Added buzzard dash effect.
  
• Updated runes hud to better show which rune was collected.
  
• Updated water temple area decoration.
  
• Added pilgrimage site at water temple.
  
• Added background decoration to lake area.
  
• Added creaking sounds to living tree.
  
• Tuned some visual effects for low framerate.
  
• Fixed a spot where player could leave the level in daw area.
  
• Fixed some collision polygons where animals got stuck.
  
• Added achievement: Cryptographer - Find all hidden runes.
  
• Added achievement: Mother of Many - Get a female rabbit to give birth to 8 babies.
  
• Added achievement: Sliver Hoarder - Carry a total of 130 slivers.
  
• Added achievement: Fatal Dash - Hurt a buzzard by letting it dash into a solid.
  
• Added achievement: Transporter - Carry an animal from one level to another.
  
• Added achievement: Born To Kill - Let a buzard hatch from an egg and let it kill a lynx.
  
• Added achievement: Catcher - Catch a thrown rabbit in mid air.
  
• Added achievement: Thorny Thistle - Hurt an animal with a thistle.
  
• Ginked: added grid - accessible with strg + alt + g (strg = cmd).
  
• Ginked: added component 'EventMux' to send multiple events from one event.
  
• Ginked: added component 'EventPropertyLabel' to turn any value into a string.